Relation between smoking and visual processing in bipolar disorder

BackgroundRecent studies have provided strong evidence that variation in the gene neurocan (NCAN, rs1064395) is a common risk factor for bipolar disorder (BD) and schizophrenia. However, the possible relevance of NCAN variation to disease mechanisms in the human brain has not yet been explored. Thus, to identify a putative pathomechanism, we tested whether the risk allele has an influence on cortical thickness and folding in a well-characterized sample of patients with schizophrenia and healthy controls.MethodSixty-three patients and 65 controls underwent T1-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and were genotyped for the single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) rs1064395. Folding and thickness were analysed on a node-by-node basis using a surface-based approach (FreeSurfer).ResultsIn patients, NCAN risk status (defined by AA and AG carriers) was found to be associated with higher folding in the right lateral occipital region and at a trend level for the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. Controls did not show any association (p > 0.05). For cortical thickness, there was no significant effect in either patients or controls.ConclusionsThis study is the first to describe an effect of the NCAN risk variant on brain structure. Our data show that the NCAN risk allele influences cortical folding in the occipital and prefrontal cortex, which may establish disease susceptibility during neurodevelopment. The findings suggest that NCAN is involved in visual processing and top-down cognitive functioning. Both major cognitive processes are known to be disturbed in schizophrenia. Moreover, our study reveals new evidence for a specific genetic influence on local cortical folding in schizophrenia.

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Structural and Functional Connectivity of Visual Cortex in Schizophrenia and Bipolar Disorder: A Graph-Theoretic Analysis

Schizophrenia Bulletin Open ◽

10.1093/schizbullopen/sgaa056 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 1 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Eric A Reavis ◽

Junghee Lee ◽

Lori L Altshuler ◽

Mark S Cohen ◽

Stephen A Engel ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Bipolar Disorder ◽

Visual Cortex ◽

Functional Connectivity ◽

Visual System ◽

Visual Processing ◽

Functional Outcomes ◽

Brain Atlas ◽

Imaging Data ◽

Significant Group ◽

Graph Theoretic

Abstract Visual processing abnormalities in schizophrenia (SZ) are poorly understood, yet predict functional outcomes in the disorder. Bipolar disorder (BD) may involve similar visual processing deficits. Converging evidence suggests that visual processing may be relatively normal at early stages of visual processing such as early visual cortex (EVC), but that processing abnormalities may become more pronounced by mid-level visual areas such as lateral occipital cortex (LO). However, little is known about the connectivity of the visual system in SZ and BD. If the flow of information to, from, or within the visual system is disrupted by reduced connectivity, this could help to explain perceptual deficits. In the present study, we performed a targeted analysis of the structural and functional connectivity of the visual system using graph-theoretic metrics in a sample of 48 SZ, 46 BD, and 47 control participants. Specifically, we calculated parallel measures of local efficiency for EVC and LO from both diffusion weighted imaging data (structural) and resting-state (functional) imaging data. We found no structural connectivity differences between the groups. However, there was a significant group difference in functional connectivity and a significant group-by-region interaction driven by reduced LO connectivity in SZ relative to HC, whereas BD was approximately intermediate to the other 2 groups. We replicated this pattern of results using a different brain atlas. These findings support and extend theoretical models of perceptual dysfunction in SZ, providing a framework for further investigation of visual deficits linked to functional outcomes in SZ and related disorders.

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SUSTAINED ATTENTION AND VISUAL PROCESSING SPEED IN CHILDREN AND ADOLESCENTS WITH BIPOLAR DISORDER AND OTHER PSYCHIATRIC DISORDERS

Psychological Reports ◽

10.2466/pr0.95.5.39-47 ◽

2004 ◽

Vol 95 (5) ◽

pp. 39 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

JAMES MCCARTHY

Keyword(s):

Bipolar Disorder ◽

Children And Adolescents ◽

Psychiatric Disorders ◽

Sustained Attention ◽

Processing Speed ◽

Visual Processing ◽

Visual Processing Speed

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Sustained Attention and Visual Processing Speed in Children and Adolescents with Bipolar Disorder and other Psychiatric Disorders

Psychological Reports ◽

10.2466/pr0.95.1.39-47 ◽

2004 ◽

Vol 95 (1) ◽

pp. 39-47 ◽

Cited By ~ 13

Author(s):

James McCarthy ◽

Alexandra McGlashan ◽

Keith Kraseski ◽

Diana Arrese ◽

Brad Rappaport ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Bipolar Disorder ◽

Conduct Disorder ◽

Visual Processing ◽

Digit Span ◽

Schizophrenia Spectrum Disorders ◽

Oppositional Defiant ◽

Not Otherwise Specified ◽

Schizophrenia Spectrum ◽

Spectrum Disorders ◽

Visual Processing Speed

To investigate the cognitive functioning of children and adolescents with bipolar illness, 112 child and adolescent psychiatric inpatients and day-hospital patients at a state psychiatric hospital were administered the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children–III (WISC–III) as part of an admission psychological assessment. There were 22 patients with Bipolar Disorder and 90 with other psychiatric disorders; all were between 8 and 17 years of age. The patients with Bipolar Disorder had a mean age of 14 yr., a mean Verbal IQ of 78, a mean Performance IQ of 76, and a mean Full Scale IQ of 75. When their WISC–III scores were compared with those who had Schizophrenia Spectrum disorders (Schizophrenia and Schizoaffective Disorder), Psychosis Not Otherwise Specified, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, and Conduct Disorder and Oppositional Defiant Disorder, there were no significant between-group mean differences for Verbal IQ, but patients with Bipolar Disorder had a significantly lower mean Performance IQ than those with ADHD and those with Conduct Disorder and Oppositional Defiant Disorder. Contrary to the expectation that the patients with Bipolar Disorder might have better sustained attention (higher Digit Span scores) than those with Schizophrenia Spectrum disorders and worse visual processing speed (lower Coding scores) than the other diagnostic groups, the bipolar patients' Digit Span and Coding scores did not differ significantly from those of the other groups. The patients with Psychosis, Not Otherwise Specified had significantly lower mean Performance IQ, Full Scale IQ, and Coding than the ADHD and the Conduct Disorder and Oppositional Disorder groups.

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Evidence of diagnostic specificity in the neural correlates of facial affect processing in bipolar disorder and schizophrenia: a meta-analysis of functional imaging studies

Psychological Medicine ◽

10.1017/s0033291712001432 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 43 (3) ◽

pp. 553-569 ◽

Cited By ~ 78

Author(s):

G. Delvecchio ◽

G. Sugranyes ◽

S. Frangou

Keyword(s):

Bipolar Disorder ◽

Visual Processing ◽

Emotional Regulation ◽

Emotional Processing ◽

Meta Analysis ◽

Likelihood Estimation ◽

Facial Affect ◽

Healthy Individuals ◽

Processing Network ◽

Affect Processing

BackgroundSchizophrenia (SZ) and bipolar disorder (BD) may overlap in etiology and phenomenology but differ with regard to emotional processing. We used facial affect as a probe for emotional processing to determine whether there are diagnosis-related differences between SZ and BD in the function of the underlying neural circuitry.MethodFunctional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies published up to 30 April 2012 investigating facial affect processing in patients with SZ or BD were identified through computerized and manual literature searches. Activation foci from 29 studies encompassing 483 healthy individuals, 268 patients with SZ and 267 patients with BD were subjected to voxel-based quantitative meta-analysis using activation likelihood estimation (ALE).ResultsCompared to healthy individuals, when emotional facial stimuli were contrasted to neutral stimuli, patients with BD showed overactivation within the parahippocampus/amygdala and thalamus and reduced engagement within the ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (PFC) whereas patients with SZ showed underactivation throughout the entire facial affect processing network and increased activation in visual processing regions within the cuneus. Patients with BD showed greater thalamic engagement compared to patients with SZ; in the reverse comparison, patients with SZ showed greater engagement in posterior associative visual cortices.ConclusionsDuring facial affect processing, patients with BD show overactivation in subcortical regions and underactivation in prefrontal regions of the facial affect processing network, consistent with the notion of reduced emotional regulation. By contrast, overactivation within visual processing regions coupled with reduced engagement of facial affect processing regions points to abnormal visual integration as the core underlying deficit in SZ.

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Aberrant intrinsic functional connectivity within and between corticostriatal and temporal–parietal networks in adults and youth with bipolar disorder

Psychological Medicine ◽

10.1017/s0033291716000143 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 46 (7) ◽

pp. 1509-1522 ◽

Cited By ~ 33

Author(s):

J. Stoddard ◽

S. J. Gotts ◽

M. A. Brotman ◽

S. Lever ◽

D. Hsu ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Bipolar Disorder ◽

Functional Connectivity ◽

Visual Processing ◽

Age Groups ◽

Neural Circuitry ◽

Brain Regions ◽

Functional Magnetic Resonance ◽

Intrinsic Functional Connectivity ◽

Late Stages ◽

The Brain

BackgroundMajor questions remain regarding the dysfunctional neural circuitry underlying the pathophysiology of bipolar disorder (BD) in both youths and adults. In both age groups, studies implicate abnormal intrinsic functional connectivity among prefrontal, limbic and striatal areas.MethodWe collected resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data from youths and adults (ages 10–50 years) with BD (n = 39) and healthy volunteers (HV; n = 78). We identified brain regions with aberrant intrinsic functional connectivity in BD by first comparing voxel-wise mean global connectivity and then conducting correlation analyses. We used k-means clustering and multidimensional scaling to organize all detected regions into networks.ResultsAcross the brain, we detected areas of dysconnectivity in both youths and adults with BD relative to HV. There were no significant age-group × diagnosis interactions. When organized by interregional connectivity, the areas of dysconnectivity in patients with BD comprised two networks: one of temporal and parietal areas involved in late stages of visual processing, and one of corticostriatal areas involved in attention, cognitive control and response generation.ConclusionsThese data suggest that two networks show abnormal intrinsic functional connectivity in BD. Regions in these networks have been implicated previously in BD. We observed similar dysconnectivity in youths and adults with BD. These findings provide guidance for refining models of network-based dysfunction in BD.

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